Moonshine And Trumpery (Gerry Howell / PBH’s Free Fringe)

Mr Howell is one canny jewel at the Free Fringe. The set is stripped of fluff and performance jumble, and in its stead is just a man – a funny man – chatting about the universe, death and badgers. This doesn’t sound like ground-breaking stand up material, and it’s not, but his voice and the workings of his mind are what make it fresh. His clever humour has a shade of darkness to it, and the material is made all the more engaging with his eloquent delivery. Howell quotes his grandmother quoting James Dean (they used to hang out): “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow”. If you were living by that adage, I’d go see this show.